The Blonde Warden
by LastStandofKonoha
Summary: After retrieving Sasuke, Naruto was thrown out of the village. Three years later a two thousand year old threat has reamerged, and it's up to our favorite knuclehead and his band of Grey Wardens to save the day. NaruHina, SasuSaku, and others.
1. Return of the Ancient Threat

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Dragon Age. I do however own the plot and any OC I create.**_

"_In war, victory. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice." – the Grey Warden's Motto._

As night fell upon a sleepy town on the outskirts of the Land of Stone, the citizens were woken by screaming from the town barricade. Some reached for their weapons and ran to join their town guard in defeating whatever attacked them.

When they reached the gates they saw a disgusting sight. Twisted, mutated humanoids were hacking at the remaining guards. As the last guard fell, the creatures turned their eyes onto the town, and the citizens ran knowing that by dawn nothing would remain.

XxXxX

The day dawned with a blood red sky. Two men who had camped a few miles south of the town noted the color. Both were wearing a thin light grey coat that reached their ankles, light grey pants, and dark grey boots. Their coats were adorned with the symbol of a griffon. The older man had a staff made of gnarled ironbark wood, the younger wielding twin longswords.

The younger one who had spikey, sun-kissed blonde hair and piercing azure eyes that showed mischief and sorrow in equal amounts, spoke up, "The sun raises red. Blood has been spilt this night."

The older man whose hair was yet not grey but getting there and whose eyes gleamed with the type of knowledge gained by paying a heavy price, responded, "True enough, I suppose. Perhaps we are near to whatever caused this. Let's gather camp and head out."

XxXxX

As the sun reached the midday high, the pair of grey-clad men walked into the place of the night attack. The young man the young man bowed his head and began praying. The old man let him pray, and went around collecting bodies and started burying them. As the young man finished praying, he went to help the old one finish burying the bodies.

After they had finished, the young man spoke up, "This is the fourth attack of this magnitude, poor bastards never stood a chance."

"I sense that is not what is troubling you, my apprentice." The old man said.

"No. What's bothering me is the fact all the attacks are moving down from the mountains toward-"

"Toward your old home, my friend?" the old man interrupted.

"Yes, sensei. I still miss it terribly." The young man replied.

"Well, I suppose they need to be forewarned about what's happening, and I'd just get lost on my way there, hm?"

"Master…Are you saying what I think your saying?" The young man could have sworn he heard a chuckle.

"And who better to warn them as the one who they threw out, eh?" Yeah, that defiantly was a chuckle in the old man's voice.

"Sensei, I- I couldn't…" the young man's voice broke.

"Leave me alone? Fool, I can handle myself. And besides, you need to return home. As far as I know, you never intended to make your exile permanent, nor did your- what's the word, Hokage. So head home. I'll head to the remnants of the Anderfels and beyond and see if I can't get a couple of Wardens to find your home."

"Sensei, I- I can't thank you enough."

"Don't thank me you fool! Just be happy, and make sure you don't lose your home."

XxXxX

_Three weeks later_

The trees of the Land of Fire created a peaceful monotone for which the young man was very grateful. The weeks had gone by without incident, but instead of calming him it only made him more nervous.

As he neared a clearing, the young man felt a tingle in the back of his mind. He quickly settled into a position where he could reach his twin swords easily. As he slowly crept toward the clearing, the sounds of fighting became clear…along with the grunts and snarls of the creatures he hunted.

His back to a tree, the young man peered around its trunk. He saw four people fighting the twisted humanoids. The first person was older than all the others, with long, lustrous black hair, eyes like rubies, and a curvaceous figure. She wore a red shirt with a single long sleeve, with bandages creating something similar to a dress. His eyes widened in recognition, _Kurenai Yuhi._

The second one was a stoic boy who apparently was hiding behind a wall of chakra-devouring insects. His dark grey jacket had its hood up. His light black shirt and pants created something of a monotone about him. His shirt's collar was high enough to block-out his mouth and nose. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. _Shino Aburame._

The third one was wearing a black shirt and black pants. His shirt was open revealing a mesh shirt underneath. His hair was semi-spikey and brown in color. Two fang tattoos adorned his cheeks. Beside him, a giant white dog was fighting. _Kiba Inuzuka._

The fourth and last person was a girl wearing a white and lavender coat. Her skin-tight black pants were standard issue in the Leaf. Even the bulkiness of her coat did little to hide her figure. Her hair was long and lustrous, but unlike Kurenai's curly locks, hers fell straight down her back. Her eyes were lavender-grey in color, and currently had the outline of pupils in the middle. The veins around her eyes were bulging. _Hinata Hyuga._

The young man watched, amazed that they were able to survive fighting those twisted humanoids, for they are hard to kill unless you were like the young man. However, he noticed how the four ninja's movement's seemed to be getting slower. The Hyuga apparently was so tiered that she failed to notice the humanoid with a rather large axe creeping up behind her.

The young man rushed out from the cover of the trees, drew his longswords, and shouted, "Hinata! Duck!"

Years of combat training registered on the Hyuga's mind, and she followed the order. As she ducked, the axe flew over the top of her head, barely missing. As the creature tried to change its axe's trajectory, twin longswords pierced into its neck. Swing the blades wide, the young man sliced the creature's head clean off its shoulders.

Almost as if the other creature's sensed their companion's death, they all turned toward the young man. With practiced ease, the young man made quick work of the remaining creatures. With a heavy sigh, he turned to the group and said, "Yo. Been a very long time hasn't it, my old friends."

XxXxX

Hinata couldn't believe her eyes, and judging from the looks on her teammates faces they couldn't either. Standing in front of them was the one man she never thought, but had hoped, she would see again. After all, he had been banished three years ago. With that trademark smile that always made her weak at the knees, Naruto Uzumaki had returned.

**Bwahahaha! Finally! I've been waiting to write this ever since I played Dragon Age. And just FYI: those creatures were darkspawn for those of you who couldn't figure that out. Please R&R, and please check-out the other stories I've written and review them to! Until next time this is LastStand, signing off.**


	2. Naruto Returns

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Dragon Age. I do own the plot and any OCs I make.**_

"_Its gates forever shut._ _Heaven has been filled with silence,_ _I knew then,_ _And cross'd my heart with shame."_

Andraste 1:11, Chant of Light

Naruto looked at his old friends, and a smile crept onto his face. It was all he could do not to laugh. The looks on their faces were just too priceless. Surprisingly, it was Hinata who made the first move. "Naruto!" she gasped and, surprisingly, ran up and hugged Naruto.

Naruto placed his hand on the top of her head and patted it. A low chuckle rumbled in his chest. Looking down at Hinata, he said, "If this is the reaction I get for disappearing for a few years, I should do it more often."

Hinata looked up at his face and, realizing what she did and how close they were, squeaked and jumped backwards, her face a burning red. Naruto laughed softly, and turned to Kiba and Akamaru. But, not before Akamaru tackled him, and started to lick his face.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh as he tried to push Akamaru off him. "Alright, alright. I missed you to, boy." Akamaru barked and hopped off him, his tongue flopping on the corner of his mouth. As Naruto sat up he looked at Kiba.

"How's it going dog-breath?"

Kiba smirked, "Ah, you know. Fighting bad guys, saving damsels. The whole hero thing."

Naruto stood up and turned to Shino. Both just nodded to each other, no words needing to be said. Naruto turned and bowed to Kurenai. "I am glad that you kept my friends safe, when I myself could not."

Kurenai smiled and said, "Not a problem Naruto. Not to sound ungrateful for your help, but what are you doing here?"

Naruto looked at Kurenai. "I take it you're referring to my banishment. There was a stipulation that if Konoha was ever in danger, I would be allowed to return to provide information and another helping hand."

Kurenai's eyebrow rose. "And you believe that Konoha is in danger?"

Naruto nodded. "Those creatures you fought, they're called darkspawn. You fought them for what, ten minutes?" Kurenai nodded. "And you're all completely drained and you failed to kill them. Now imagine a horde of these creatures big enough to outnumber every shinobi in the Elemental Countries fifty to one, led by a twisted and corrupted dragon that was once known as a god, and you get what my group, the Grey Wardens, call a blight. Whether or not you believe me that is what, not only Konoha, but every country faces. And a Grey Warden is the only thing that can end a blight."

Kurenai gave Naruto a look that said that she did not think that she could determine whether or not he was lying. Catching the look, Hinata spoke up. "A-ano, sensei, but my byakugan failed to detect any trace of a lie when Naruto-kun said his piece."

Kurenai sighed. "All right, I'll believe you for now. But, it's not me you have to convince. It's the council and the Hokage."

Naruto nodded. "I know."

Kurenai signaled her charges, "Alright, then. Team Kurenai, your mission objectives have changed. Since the targets are dead, and we have a VIP with more knowledge about the targets than we currently have, we are now guarding Naruto Uzumaki until we reach Konoha. Traveling Position Alpha, form up and head out." With that the three ninja and the single Grey Warden disappeared in five blurs.

XxXxX

Tsunade sighed as she finished the first of ten rather large piles of paperwork. If pestered about it, she would had admitted that she fell every single one of her years. _It's the damn stress_, she decided. The political backlash that the Council of Elders created by banishing Naruto had almost unstapled the Leaf. And it had fallen to her to deal with it. In fact it was still going on.

With a poof of smoke, one of the gate ninja appeared in front of Tsunade. Tsunade cocked an eyebrow.

"Dereliction of duty, eh?" she drawled.

The ninja quickly shook his head. "No, Lady Hokage. Team Kurenai has returned from their border mission. They brought back someone interesting."

Tsunade looked over at Shizune, who had been watching in the corner. Someone interesting… Could be interesting. She looked back at the ninja. "Alright, send them in."

Team Kurenai walked in. They seemed to have been in quite the battle. Their clothes were torn, and they looked like they hadn't had a decent night's sleep for at least a few days. Except for the man behind them, he looked like he had just stepped out of the shower. Tsunade's eyes widened when she saw him. "Mina-…"

She cut herself off as she noticed the whisker marks on his face. And she only knew one man with whisker marks. "Naruto…"

"Sup, Grandma Tsunade." He said.

Tsunade suddenly got serious, as she noticed the griffon on Naruto's jacket. "Team Kurenai, we'll talk later. For now, leave. Naruto and I need to talk."

"Let them stay, Granny. I know it's a SSS -rank secret, but they know enough to stay. Also, adding Sakura and Kakashi to this group wouldn't be a bad idea."

Tsunade glared at Naruto. "It's a very bad idea, Naruto. There's a reason it's a SSS –rank secret and…"

"Should I use the Right of Conscription for something as trivial as this, Lady Hokage?" Naruto interrupted.

Team Kurenai collectively gaped at Naruto. He never called Tsunade, 'Lady Hokage.' Tsunade glared at him. "You would risk their lives and damn them, just because I won't let them listen otherwise!"

"If it comes to that, Lady Hokage. It's your choice: I conscript them and they listen in, or I don't and they listen in. What'll it be, Lady Hokage."

Tsunade fell completely silent for quite a long time. After a few minutes, Naruto spoke again. "You need not answer now, debrief Team Kurenai, and take a few days to think."

With that, Naruto strode out of the room. After a moment of hesitation, Hinata followed.

**Whew! Never thought that'd get done. Sorry for the wait, but I'll update more often now that school has started. Nothing better to do in my free time. This LastStand, signing off.**


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